Aberration-resistible topological charge determination of annular-shaped optical vortex beams using Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor.

Determining topological charge (TC) of optical vortex (OV) beams is important for many applications, such as optical measurement and information transmission through long-distance propagation. In this application, the OV beams usually have an annular intensity profile at the receiving end and are inevitably distorted by aberrations during propagation. In this paper, we propose a simple, direct, and aberration-resistible method to determine the TC value of this annular-shaped OV beam with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SH-WFS).

Decisional Conflict in Home Medical Care in a Family-Oriented Society: Family Members' Perspectives on Surrogate Decision Making from a Multicenter Cohort Study.

To identify factors related to decisional conflict among surrogate decision makers for home medical care (HMC) patients. Prospective Cohort Study. For older patients receiving HMC from four different primary care clinics in Japan from January 2016 to June 2017, we studied the family member with the main potential for surrogate decision making.

Impact of Patients' Expressed Wishes on Their Surrogate Decision Makers' Preferred Decision-Making Roles in Japan.

Background: Home medical care (HMC) patients and their families are expected to prepare for end-of-life decision making.

Objective: We investigated the decision readiness of HMC patients and their family surrogates.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Influence of family dynamics on burden among family caregivers in aging Japan.

Background: Long-term care for the elderly is largely shouldered by their family, representing a serious burden in a hyper-aging society. However, although family dynamics are known to play an important role in such care, the influence of caring for the elderly on burden among caregiving family members is poorly understood.

Objective: To examine the influence of family dynamics on burden experienced by family caregivers.

High-order optical vortex position detection using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor.

Optical vortex (OV) beams have null-intensity singular points, and the intensities in the region surrounding the singular point are quite low. This low intensity region influences the position detection accuracy of phase singular point, especially for high-order OV beam. In this paper, we propose a new method for solving this problem, called the phase-slope-combining correlation matching method.

Developing a scale to measure family dynamics related to long-term care, and testing that scale in a multicenter cross-sectional study.

Background: As Japan's population ages, more frail elderly people are cared for by members of their family. The dynamics within such families are difficult to study, in part because they are difficult to quantify. We developed a scale for assessing family dynamics related to long-term care.

[Evaluation of tuberculosis treatment including levofloxacin (LVFX) in cases who could not continue standard regimen].

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate tuberculosis treatment including levofloxacin (LVFX) and to investigate the effectiveness of changing drug regimens at our hospital.

Subjects And Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 331 patients with tuberculosis admitted to Tokyo National Hospital in 2005. Out of these 331 patients, LVFX was used in 48 (14.

[A case of tuberculous pleurisy developing contralateral effusion during anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy].

A 55-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of chest pain, fever, and right pleural effusion that was exudative and lymphocyte-dominant with a high level of adenosine deaminase (ADA). Since her blood QuantiFERON-TB 3G test (QFT) was positive, she was diagnosed with tuberculous pleurisy. After initiation of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy with isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide, her symptoms improved.

Addition of leukotriene receptor antagonists to inhaled corticosteroids improved QOL of patients with bronchial asthma surveyed in suburban Tokyo, Japan.

Background: Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that has a severe impact on health worldwide.

Methods: A survey of 10,771 patients with bronchial asthma in the Tama region, Tokyo was conducted for 5 years to examine treatment and quality of life (QOL). Subjects were patients aged ≥ 16 years and their physicians who replied to a questionnaire sent in November from 2002 to 2006.

[Nine cases of pulmonary sarcoidosis predominantly affecting the lower lung fields].

Objectives: Pulmonary sarcoidosis which predominantly affects the lower lung fields is relatively rare. We performed this study to clarify the clinical manifestations of this type of sarcoidosis.

Subjects And Methods: Over a period of 13 years, we diagnosed pulmonary sarcoidosis in 119 patients.

[A case of cold abscess of the chest wall due to thoracic drainage for tuberculous pleuritis].

A 56-year-old man underwent thoracic drainage for two weeks for tuberculous pleuritis. He was put on antituberculosis chemotherapy with INH (400 mg), RFP (450 mg), and EB (750 mg). Two months later, he developed an elastic hard subcutaneous mass in the area of the previous thoracic drainage.

[Clinical investigation among elderly patients with tuberculosis].

Objectives: We discussed the factors which may confuse diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in elderly patients, in order to improve the situation.

Subjects And Methods: 414 patients who were hospitalized for active tuberculosis in Tokyo National Hospital were divided into three groups according to their ages (in years): less than 65, 65 to 74, and greater than 75. The three groups were compared in terms of performance status (PS), serum albumin level (whether over 3 g/dl or not), underlying diseases, symptoms at onset, sputum smear findings for acid-fast bacilli, presence or absence of cavitary lesion, regimen of treatment, adverse reaction to medications, and treatment outcome.

[Review of pulmonary Mycobacterium xenopi infection cases: 11 cases of our own and 18 other cases reported in Japan].

Objective: To investigate clinical features of patients with pulmonary Mycobacterium xenopi infection treated at our hospital.

Subjects And Methods: We diagnosed 11 cases of M. xenopi infection at Tokyo National Hospital between 2000 and 2008 and recorded the drug susceptibility, patient characteristics, radiographic findings, treatments given and clinical courses.

[Rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis based on the detection of a pulmonary rheumatoid nodule in a patient with Hansen's disease].

A 77-year-old man with Hansen's disease was referred to our hospital because of a small nodular lesion detected adjacent to the pleura in the right lower lobe (S10) on chest CT. He had lost all ten fingers due to Hansen's disease and was using a prosthetic limb after amputation of the right lower leg. Although the patient had an 11-year history of shoulder and back pain and was suspected of having interstitial pneumonia 6 years previously, no detailed examination had been conducted.

The value of fiberoptic bronchoscopy in culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients whose pre-bronchoscopic sputum specimens were negative both for smear and PCR analyses.

Objective: This study assessed the diagnostic rate of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) using fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FBS) in patients with suspected PTB, and negative pre-bronchoscopy smear and polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) in sputum.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 201 culture-positive PTB patients that underwent FBS because both smear and PCR results in sputum were negative. The positive rates of smear for acid fast bacilli, PCR for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the presence of granuloma in transbronchial biopsy (TBB), and culture of M.

[A case of tuberculosis with multiple lung nodules, abdominal lymphadenopathy, and splenomegaly].

Abdominal tuberculous lymphadenitis is very rare. We report a case of pulmonary tuberculosis showing marked abdominal lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly. A 95-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of abnormal chest X-ray and body weight loss in last 6 months.

[A case of primary pulmonary cryptococcosis presenting with acute respiratory failure].

A 71-year-old previously healthy woman, presented with respiratory failure several days after initiation of cough and fever. A chest X-ray revealed multiple infiltrative shadows with airbronchograms in bilateral middle and lower lung fields. Transbronchial lung biopsy, performed after steroid pulse therapy which induced transient improvement, demonstrated exudative lesions with massive aggregation of histiocytes containing yeast-like fungi in their cytoplasm.

[Usefulness of bronchofiberscopy for the diagnosis of pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteriosis--an analysis mainly on pulmonary M. avium complex disease].

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of bronchofiberscopy (BFS) in the diagnosis of pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteriosis (PNTM).

Materials And Methods: Among 909 PNTM patients admitted to our hospital during the period from 1995 to 2006, BFS was performed for the diagnosis of PNTM in 107 patients (12%) who had either a negative sputum-smear for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) (n = 100) or from whom it had been impossible to collect sputum (n =7). For these 107 cases, we retrospectively compared and analyzed the findings from specimens obtained by BFS, such as smears, cultures, polymerase-chain reaction (PCR), and transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB), with clinical, radiological, and sputum examination disease, was also seen in the positive ratios of other nontuberculous mycobacteriosis cases.

[Drug-induced hepatotoxicity caused by anti-tuberculosis drugs in tuberculosis patients complicated with chronic hepatitis].

Objectives: To investigate retrospectively the incidence of drug-induced hepatitis (DIH) caused by antituberculosis drugs including isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RFP), with and without pyrazinamide (PZA), and to evaluate risk factors for DIH in tuberculosis patients complicated with chronic hepatitis (CH).

Materials: One hundred and seven tuberculosis patients with CH (M/F= 96/11, mean age +/- SE, 60.8 +/- 1.

[Features of bronchial tuberculosis--an analysis of 103 cases].

Objectives: The aim of this study is to clarify the features of bronchial tuberculosis.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed the clinicopathological data from 103 out of 4467 (2.3%) cases of culture positive tuberculosis admitted to the National Hospital Organization Tokyo National Hospital in the period from 1993 to 2004 in which bronchial tuberculosis was confirmed by bronchofiberscopy.

[Usefulness of a whole blood interferon gamma assay (QuantiFERON-TB-2G) for detecting tuberculosis infection in HIV-infected persons].

Background: New blood test (QuantiFERON-TB-2G: QFT-2G), based on detection of IFN-gamma released by T cells in response to M. tuberculosis specific antigens, has the high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of tuberculosis. However, it is essential to evaluate this T cell-based approach in individuals with HIV-associated impairment in T cell immunity.

Possibility of reverse Monte Carlo modelling for hydrogenated amorphous Si deposited on reactive ion etched Si substrate.

We examined the x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) and of crystalline Si (c-Si) substrate for high-Q measurements. A structural analysis of thin films on substrates is important for the development of real devices. A transmission geometry with high-energy x-rays was used for this investigation, together with very thin substrates, in an effort to reduce substrate signals.

[Bone and joint tuberculosis concurrent with tuberculosis of other organs].

Objectives: To study the characteristics of bone or joint tuberculosis (TB) accompanied by TB in other organs (especially the lung), and to study patients' and doctors' delay in detecting bone or joint TB.

Subjects And Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 33 patients with bone or joint TB concurrent with TB of other organs, especially the lung, who were admitted to our hospital between 1981 and 2005. The patients were divided into the following three groups according to the organ of concurrent TB : (1) miliary TB group (N = 10), (2) pulmonary TB group (N = 19), and (3) other TB site group (N = 4).